Welcome to Ms. Badalucco’s  Science Page!

This is Ms. Badalucco’s first year working with CPS and Hamilton Elementary after teaching three years in a 6th grade classroom near South Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  Ms. Badalucco grew up in Las Vegas and attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where she obtained her Bachelors in Elementary Education and Masters in Elementary Science Education. She has also received the Nevada NASA Space Grant to work with scientists from the Desert Research Institute, the Honeywell grant to attend Space Academy for teachers in Huntsville, Alabama, and has attended the Nevada Earth and Space Science Initiative every summer where teachers camp and learn to bring outdoor science into their classrooms.  She has also received the Mickelson Grant for Science Educators, and will be attending labs in Jersey City, New Jersey, this summer.

With a strong foundation of using inquiry-based science in the classrooms, she is excited to be working with Ms. Andrews and to bring her love of science to Hamilton.  In her spare time, Ms. Badalucco likes to travel, run, cook, and explore all the fantastic places to eat in Chicago.

Email Ms. Badalucco if you have any questions about what’s happening in the lab!   KABadalucco@cps.edu

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Lab Happenings

5th Grade:

Because of the weather, we have taken a temporary break from Solar Energy, but will return to it again in the middle of May.  We have moved on to learning about how time is measured, and why we have things such as days, weeks, months, and years.

We are looking at ways that people used to tell time, exploring in depth about water clocks (click here for more info!). We are building our own in class using aluminum foil, funnels, beads, and washers as our tools to make a clock that can accurately tell us how much time has passed.  We will also be designing our own experiments based on our findings!  Most of the work for this unit will be done in class, so the homework load will be less than in the solar energy unit.  However, you can still ask your student what they discovered through the process, and how their trials had to be altered as they experimented!

6th Grade:

6th grade has ended their unit on soil and are moving on to rocks and minerals.  They will be exploring the rock cycle, differences between rock and minerals, and erosion.  Throughout  the unit, “edible earth science” will be added in, so make sure that you are asking your child about what they did that day!

Extension activities to check out – click here

7th/8th Grade:

7th grade webquest located here:   Biomes Webquest

After studying about the scientific process, the 7th and 8th grade students have moved on to body systems.  Ms. Andrews will be working with these classes to tie in technology to the lessons, and teaching the students how to use the school’s iPads.  The 7th and 8th grade will learn about the different organ systems and their jobs, as well as how the different parts of the body work together to function.

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Ms. Andrews and Ms. Badalucco’s Science Classes

Students and parents-we have posted copies of the course expectations here:

5th Grade Science Expectations

6th Grade Science Expectations

7th/8th Grade Science Expectations

We  will be handing these out on the first day of class, as well, and expect them to be signed and returned by every student and parent.

Note – Most science work will be done in the lab at school without a book, so attendance is necessary to fully understand topics being discussed.  Plus, you don’t want to miss out on all the fun things your friends will be telling you about that we did.

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